Why does God allow evil and suffering? Bishop Robert Barron, as always, provides great insight. You can subscribe to his free WORDonFIRE Show podcast, and listen to his weekly show at home, or as I do, in the car or while walking the dog.

Friday, June 8, the Church celebrates the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.Learn more about it. It is also the World Day of Prayer for the Sanctification of Priests, so please remember us in prayer.

Give yourself a spiritual boost: Join Archbishop Lépine and many hundreds of the faithful for the annual Corpus Christi Mass & procession downtown Thursday this week. Find out in the bulletin how to get a seat on the bus from Becket.

Here's a photo from last week’s March for Life in Ottawa: with me among the 15,000+ participants are former Becket pastor Fr. Gilles Surprenant, parish warden Norm Cousineau and parishioner Paul Empsall. May every child in the womb be accorded the same respect and protection: society mourns a miscarried “child”, but ignores an aborted “fetus”. Does that make sense?

Here is a photo of our jubilarian couples at the weekend celebration of their life in Christ between 20 and 50 years. Congratulations to all.

If you were not in church this past weekend, here is the link to the parish survey, Access Code: DCE245F. It will be available until Friday. It is for those 18 plus years old who consider themselves part of our parish. It is recommended to complete on a laptop or desktop, as it is not formatted for mobile devices.

On the last night of His life, Jesus asked his disciples, “Could you not watch with me even one hour?” Let us respond to that invitation on Holy Thursday, following the 8:00pm Mass until early Good Friday morning in the Altar of Repose (Parish Hall). You can call the parish office to sign up, and of course you are welcome at any time during the night for as short or long as you wish to stay. There will be a security guard on duty all night.

Canada’s own Salt+Light Catholic Television network has extensive coverage of Holy Week ceremonies with the Holy Father in Rome. If you do not receive the channel on Bell or Videotron, you can learn how to sign up or else you can watch everything online.

Why are teens so anxious and depressed? Here’s a possibility.And here’s some help.
These excellent strategies from TIME are not just about saying “no”. Teens have to participate in and internalize the guidelines; otherwise they will have no self-control when outside your home and influence.

A photo of our 4th Degree Knights of Columbus, including Barry Adams, veteran, and our parishioner and veteran Darroch Robertson, who all helped to make last Sunday’s Remembrance Day Ceremony a memorable occasion.

Here is a statement of the Canadian Bishops on the recent bill passed concerning gender identity.

September 25, 2017

Below are photos of the young people awarded bursaries at the weekend Masses by our parish Catholic Women’s League. Congratulations to all these deserving and exceptional young adults, who are just a few among the numerous young and older volunteers who keep the parish humming.

Fr. Peter and Fr. Deepak celebrating Mass in the Duc in Altum chapel of the Magdala Centre (on the site of the village of St. Mary Magdalene), Israel. The altar is in the shape of a boat, and the tabernacle was blessed by Pope Francis. "Duc in altum" means "put out into the deep." (Luke 5:1-11)

After Hurricanes Harvey and Irma, and with the 16th anniversary of the attacks on the Twin Towers tomorrow, Christians may naturally feel themselves a little stunned, wondering how a loving God could permit such tragedies and acts of horror. It's worth reminding ourselves of a line from Pope Francis: “There is no such thing as low-cost Christianity.”

September 4, 2017

"Get clear about your faith". A new online program from Brandan Vogt, a well-known author and speaker and close colleague of Bishop Robert Barron. Registration closes on Thursday.

As I head to the Holy Land on Thursday with pilgrims from greater Montreal, Toronto and Mexico, I ask your prayers that it might be a true and lasting conversion experience for all of us. We will bring your intentions to the holy places. If you have any particular intentions you would us to place in the Western (“Wailing”) Wall of the Temple of Jerusalem, or to pray at the tomb of Jesus or somewhere else, please email them to me as soon as possible.

Today is the feast day of St. Thomas the Apostle. He is a patron saint of India, and so has special meaning for Fr. Tijo and others descended from the “St. Thomas Christians”. Did you know that Fr. Tijo is a priest of the Syro-Malabar Church, the second-largest of the Eastern-rite churches in union with Rome. Learn more here.

Every Christian should visit the Holy Land---where Jesus walked, and Rome---the centre of our Catholic faith---at least once in their life. You can do it this year on our fall pilgrimage. Learn more here.

Take 18 minutes to watch this profound, moving and very personal video just released by Christopher West: Cry of the Heart.